Sprint to Relocate Cell Sites In Bid to Cut Costs

Sprint hopes moving its radio infrastructure away from privately held companies to government-owned land and/or structures will help shave $1 billion in costs, reports Re/code. Sprint leases cell tower access from Crown Castle and American Tower, and lease rates are a significant part of it operational costs. The government does not charge as much for leases. Sprint is looking at a company called Mobilitie, from which it might lease cell site access, as well. Sprint may begin the effort as soon as June or July. Sprint is also planning to cut backhaul costs. Sprint largely relies on fiber from competitors AT&T and Verizon, says Re/code, and pays each company about $1 billion per year to manage some of its wired network traffic. Sprint is considering a switch to microwave technology for its backhaul needs so it won't have to rely so much on its competitors. Last, the company is expected to announce significant layoffs on January 22. Sprint has spoken of headcount reductions for months, and said the cuts would come by the end of January. Sprint did not comment on Re/code's story.

It is different this time. Sprint presently has a cash position of $4.97 billion and projected to have $1.7 billion at the end of the next fiscal year. Their credit rating at Moody's is B3 which is highly speculative. If they can't raise funds and con...(continues)

These signs all point to the beginning of the end. First, cell companies don't pick site locations at random; they do it to get the coverage they need. If Sprint is willing to move its antennae to cheaper towers solely for cost-saving, then you have to assume that coverage could be impacted. Second, moving from fiber to microwave backhauls will certainly reduce capacity, potentially impacting data speeds. Third, layoffs are never a good sign.

This is a company that's putting itself on life support until a buyer comes along. They're going to do the least they have to do in order to say they're still providing service, but it's pretty obvious that, as a viable company, they're slowly winding down.

This is absurd. First Network Vision, then the whole "network modernization" project and now this? Wont relocating sites cause many service disruptions? didnt they learn any lessons from the rip and replace they went through a few years back? These...(continues)